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//Media coverage relating to schizophrenia tends to revolve around rare but unusual acts of violence. Furthermore, in a large, representative sample from a 1999 study, 12.8% of Americans believed that individuals with schizophrenia were “very likely” to do something violent against others, and 48.1% said that they were “somewhat likely” to. Over 74% said that people with schizophrenia were either “not very able” or “not able at all” to make decisions concerning their treatment, and 70.2% said the same of money management decisions.[137] The perception of individuals with psychosis as violent has more than doubled in prevalence since the 1950s, according to one meta-analysis.[138]//

You’re correct, Schizophrenia is a catch-all, with all its little sub-forms and overlaps. I am increasingly convinced that the DSM and ICD really have no idea what they are doing.

These diagnoses did not exist prior to the mid-20th century and yet they are handed to people as if written in stone. When I was doing deep deconstruction of my disorder and really looking at what it was that fed the cored of distress, I considered who I would be in a different place, a different time…who I might be within a different framework.

We build our ideas about ourselves based on how we perceive other people seeing us. If, from the time we are young, our experiences of the world are viewed as invalid or “wrong” or “not true” – if we were punished for trying to explain the best we could at the time…well, that strikes a pretty significant blow to our ideas about who we are to our families and our communities, sets up an internal mechanism of vigilant scrutiny, “Do not feel anything. Do not see anything. Do not hear anything. None of it is real. It is bad. I am bad. I am sick. I shouldn’t care about the things I care about. I should be able to do what they think I should be able to do. I am a useless burden.”

The rates of suicide are high among people who carry diagnoses of Schizophrenia and so much, I think, comes from the feeling of being trapped in the world of pain and confusion that is built when people are punished for being who they are, for their brains working how they work.

I have constructed a theory of human consciousness that is based on signal and interpretation of sense/meaning codes – and if people experience sustained social/emotional trauma (ridicule, abuse, ostracization, violence) as a result of simply being who they are, then distress inevitably arises and the pathways associated with disorder may become fraught with fear, anger, and despair – qualities which then work their way into the experience of disorder and world.

It could be reasoned, based on this, that the “treatment” and even the process of diagnosing these disorders may be instrumental in the severity and persistence of people’s pain and dysfunction. Many people I know who carry diagnoses of schizophrenia tend to be deeply empathic (which flies in the face of the assumption of emotional blunting or absence of feeling towards other people) and it seems to me that when people are hurt, again and again, and are denied the legitimacy of what makes them who they are, when they are robbed of any sense that how they experience the world may be of value – and it is of value, because sensitive perception and accidental-surrealist interpretation is a beautiful thing – well, people shut down, often aided by chemical restraints of self (such as dopamine blockers that cause you to feel nothing)

This world and its cultures were not built to accommodate madness or differences in experience and those that “fail” to meet the criteria for normalcy are punished. I am beginning to think, more and more, that it is obvious that the constructs of mental illness have been created as a means of double-binding social control. As Jung pointed out, double-binding (damned if you are yourself, damned if you are not yourself…how does one even get away from who they are anyway?) does much in the creation of madness. Mad Love and Solidarity in hopes for a world that can learn to see clearly. I am fairly certain that all the saints and prophets would have, in this day and age, been deemed quite ill indeed…and that is sad to me.

When all the workers go on strike and put forward their demands, the regime will have no other option but to satisfy them. Otherwise, the entire country comes to a halt and the whole system collapses. And if the army decides to open fire, I think it would be impossible for them to maintain the ranks.They might be able to brainwash some officers into shooting a small number of protesters in Tahrir Square by calling them thugs and so forth, but can they shoot a million people in the square?The general strike will bring the wheel to a halt, and the regime will have to make concessions for it to work again. If the movement feels that they cannot hold the strike indefinitely, then they will accept these concessions. However, if the movement is strong enough it can seize power altogether, seize the factories and start managing its own affairs.” -Hamalawy

When thinking how this model may apply to the US, there is the issue that many people are “just so lucky to have a job in these rough economic times” and are all but locked to the teat of their employers, knowing that there are countless numbers of unemployed Americans ready to take their place if they stand up for better wages, healthcare, better work environments.

It is actually a brilliant double-bind on behalf of the corporateers that set this whole mess up.We do have professions (such as industrial mill workers, shipping, education, healthcare) where such a model might be effective – but, many people are caught in allegiance to the integrity of their almighty workplace and a vast number of Americans are employed in disposable service jobs, struggling just to get by.How can we fix this here? The only thing I can think of is to collapse the corporations and let the chips fall where they may, re-structure the best we can.Unfortunately, corporate-codependence has created a situation in which many people feel they will not be able to get the “goods and services” that they “need” if the corporate economy collapses, another brilliant double-bind that sends people scrambling to market to “keep the economy going” – – –What the corporations failed to bring into account in that THEY RELY ON US TO KEEP THEM GOING.They are nothing without our participation and the most basic free will is the freedom not to buy things we don’t want or need, the freedom to disengage from corporate markets – a freedom that has been manipulated in vast and. myriad ways, from practical monopoly (in which we have few choices other than to buy from corporations) to advertising psyops culture that makes us think we want things we really don’t.

Ew. I’m drinking Coke right now.Dammit.Thanks. No, really, thanks. I’ve had more and more of these dissonant lifestyle moments lately and I have cut down on the indulgences of American Culture. Really, Coke and cheap laundry detergent (+other “grocery” items) are pretty much it…except for gas…and…I really need to change my lifestyle. I need to stop supporting mega- corporations. I need to actively work on this. I tell myself, “I’m not that bad. I don’t go to McDonalds or shop at WalMart and I can’t stand the mall.”However, I like Coke.I keep thinking, “May as well enjoy it while we can.” I am not-so-secretly hoping that it will all go away sooner than later.However, I know that it won’t. Not if we keep buying it.I have strategized a number of ways to get out of the corporate product loop. First and foremost, I could simply stop drinking Coke and buy better detergent. This wouldn’t be hard. The money I saved by not buying Coke would go a long way toward better household products.I stopped drinking Coke in plastic bottles a while ago, because plastic is increasingly unappealing to me. The cans are pleasing. They are cold. They fit into my hand. Sweet liquid pours forth.Ugh.Not going to stores that sell Coke would improve my overall patterns of consumption. Here in Asheville, there are plenty of non-Coke proprietors. Mini-corporate healthy grocery stores, re-sale grocers, the food co-op. If I were to only go to the re-sale grocers and the food co-op, I would greatly diminish my consumption of corporate grocery goods, by virtue of the fact that you cannot buy what is not sold.Thanks for giving me cause to consider the icky feeling I get when I buy Coke.Why haven’t I been doing this all along? It’s not like I didn’t know it was important.Credit HistoryIf it’s any consolation, I haven’t been to a Target in months and months. In part because I am very tired of household goods and in part because I am sick of looking at things I can’t afford and wanting things I don’t need, just because they are NEW and because they LOOK nice.Back in August, I used a credit card to go and intentionally buy whatever crap I wanted from Target, without worrying about the cost. It was an experiment in American shopping culture and I knew it would be a while before I had to deal with the debt. I only mustered 400.00 worth before the thought of taking it all into the house made the whole thing unappealing.As it turns out, such experiments with credit are not well-advised. In truth, I was somewhat offended that they’d offered me a line of credit. I was – and am – on Food Stamps. I already had an old debt with Citi. Why did they want to give me more credit? I was feeling a bit lofty, as I often do in the late-summer and so it seemed like a great idea at the time.I bought a bass guitar from a small music store and a bunch of miscellaneous house/kid accoutrements and am now the proud recipient of multiple phone calls on a daily basis from 18007331116.

(My Spy-Brain always notes that this number, were it turned on its head, would read: 911 l337 0081. Those are some pretty significant numbers.)I ignore the phone calls for the most part. Sometimes I answer and explain the situation, about immature passive aggressive revenge spending and microlevel financial collapse. “You do understand that this will affect your credit rating?” This is what they always say. I laugh at them, because it is ludicrous to think that I remotely give a damn about my credit rating at this particular juncture in time. The nice people I talk to are very understanding. They hear it all day long. “My financial situation is not what it used to be. I don’t see it improving. I can’t pay a minimum that high. I just got the card for emergencies and then, well, there were some emergencies. There is nothing I can do.”I was raised to repay my debts and, eventually, I probably will. At this point, I don’t really care about my debt to a mega-financial corp.You know, it’s funny, one man I spoke to actually thanked me, “for doing what I do.” He probably saw the 99.00 donation to Occupy Wall Street. We had a good talk. If anyone understands the American economy, it is the people who talk on the phone all day, who look at accounts and who listen to stories, excuses, angry words.I have no idea how they do the work they do.